Leather Cleaning. Is it that hard???

[Daniel Darlow]

Hi.
Not posted for a while.
Stuck in my little workshop doing restoration work rather than cleaning.
Not going out on calls due to personal reasons, wife health wise, and have enjoyed the move to 'it comes to me'.
Altough my website www.devonleathercare.co.uk does mention that I work from home, I still get many calls regarding problem cleans.
They are always the ones that are 1./ a YouTube disaster, 2/a pigment, 'grey area that will not clean' i.e. the finish and pigmant has worn away. 3/ Why cannot a bottle of dye not take on my sofa? 4/ Why has the cleaner darkened my leather?.
Information at Point of Sale has always been my bugbear, So many sales are just on the sale and not on the aftercare. As a Furniture Retail Manager for many years the information was key and the return custom over the years was invaluable.
So, I digress, problem with ink. Customer has tried to remove with various mediums, to no avail. Called in Cleaner, who again has tried various methods, to no avail. Infact made the matter worse. Possible conflict? Probably not not as the first attempt failed by the owner, but not good for the latter,at least his Insurances was intact.
Long story short, the leather was Aniline, should never have been attempted to be removed by such tactics, but training was not in place. Did not know the pitfalls of leather cleaning and restoration.
I attended an attempted clean of a £12,000 Natuzzi corner sofa, 6 months ago where grease had been tried to be removed from the head are from one chair, the colour had been completely removed. Did not have a clue. Customer now suing the company. Get clued up. Do the Training. Get the Insurance. Be Positive in what you do.

 

[Mark Sutcliffe]

Long story short, the leather was Aniline, should never have been attempted to be removed by such tactics, but training was not in place. Did not know the pitfalls of leather cleaning and restoration.
I attended an attempted clean of a £12,000 Natuzzi corner sofa, 6 months ago where grease had been tried to be removed from the head are from one chair, the colour had been completely removed. Did not have a clue. Customer now suing the company. Get clued up. Do the Training. Get the Insurance. Be Positive in what you do.

I've changed my business to predominantly leather, I'm just on the hunt for a little spotter now for the occasional fabric sofa of a leather customer.. (don't leave money on the table n all that).

The reason I have quoted you, well I have a Natuzzi leather sofa that I have to repair in the next few weeks. Exactly the same issue with the customer, bought some cleaner online which took the colour off. All because she wanted to remove her husbands sweat marks..

The issue is that it is a pigmented sofa.. but... they have used just one layer of topcoat over Aniline base. so technically it's a semi aniline. Tan coloured but clearly pigment as the leather is grey.

A bit aprehensive, I said to them, it certainly won't look like it did before, but we can get it to a point where your eyes are not drawn to it, failing that, I can put you in touch with an upholsterer who can use some of the leather from the back to create a new panel.. Always a solution. Customer wants me to have a go, with the more drastic action being a back up... As long as you are honest, and know what you are doing.. It becomes quite straight forward.

 

[Stewart Cowie]

The issue is that it is a pigmented sofa.. but... they have used just one layer of topcoat over Aniline base. so technically it's a semi aniline. Tan coloured but clearly pigment as the leather is grey.

None of that makes sense to me?? Why can't it be repaired to a high standard? Do you you have a photo of this please, as I would like to see what the issue is?